iThrive: 7 Minute Workout

In Balanced Achievement’s ‘iThrive series’, we aim to present you with a variety of useful iOS and Android Apps that you can utilize to accelerate your personal growth and improve the quality of your life. We meticulously select innovate Apps that are designed to help individuals make the personal changes needed to move their lives in the direction of happiness, success & fulfillment. In this article, we look at the 7 Minute Workout App which conveniently offers users full body workout routines they can complete, without equipment, in only seven minutes

iThrive App Profile:

App: 7 Minute Workout

Cost: Free (with in App purchases)

App Focus: Health & Fitness

7 Minute Workout Overview:

If you are like the vast majority of people, time management is probably an issue that you consistently deal with. When we have to balance work, family, and social obligations with our own personal interests, our health and fitness oftentimes find themselves on the back burner of our lives. We travel for work, take the kids to soccer practice, meet friends for dinner, and take time alone to read our favorite author’s new novel. As we try to balance our time between various activities such as these, our focus on maintaining a healthy diet or workout regime often dissipates to nothing. For most people, the rush of everyday life causes them to eat unhealthier than they want, and the idea of having a regular workout routine is something that they couldn’t dream of. Now it’s easier than ever put on some mens workout shorts and get into a fitness routine.

Fortunately, this all changed when Chris Jordan, the Director of Exercise Physiology at Johnson & Johnson’s Human Performance Institute Division of Wellness & Prevention, and a team of leading health researchers created a workout routine that produces verifiable fitness results in only 7 minutes. By selecting exercises that target various parts of the body and focusing on high intensity training methods, the 7 Minute Workout gives individuals a full body workout in under 10 minutes.

While the initial 7 Minute Workout routine consisted of 12 exercises that were diligently chosen to allow individuals to workout with as little equipment as possible, Jordan and his team have more recently strived to give individuals greater workout flexibility. As the App grew in popularity, so to did the exercise options available for individuals working out. Today, there are 72 additional exercises that can be mixed and matched to create over 1,000 training sequences. The 12 exercises that were used as the foundation for the original routine were: Jumping jacks, wall sits, push-ups, crunches, chair step-ups, squats, triceps dips, planks, high-knees running in place, lunges, pushups with rotations, and side planks.

The 7 Minute Workout App, which has been featured in leading publications such as the New York Times, instructs individuals as they go through 12 exercises for intervals of 30 seconds. Additionally, there are 10-second intervals in between each exercise which allows individuals to get in position for their next workout task. Yet, if the extra time that you will save by using that App still isn’t attractive enough, don’t worry because there is more good news. By focusing on body-weight resistance exercise concepts, the 7 Minute Workout App gives users the flexibility to workout anytime, anywhere. The only ‘equipment’ that you will need is regular household items such as a chair, a wall, and a set of steps.

So why does it work? In an interview published on WebMD, Jordan explains that individuals can lose weight by using the routine because it uniquely focuses on combining high-intensity interval training with weight-resistance training. By workout out for shorter durations with high-intensity, your body isn’t given the opportunity to rest and your metabolism becomes boosted, which is vital for weight loss. Furthermore, every exercise was specifically chosen to increase muscle mass by utilizing the weight-resistance of one’s own body. Plain and simply: the 7 Minute Workout targets fat and builds muscle.

Since it’s launch in 2013, the 7-Minute Workout has rightfully garnished national media attention because it allows time crunched individuals to lose weight, tone their bodies, and stay in shape. Today, there are numerous Apps that have been built around the 7 Minute Workout concept and they similarly come with the same benefit: A full body workout in only 7 minutes. Regardless of how busy an individual is, they certainly have 7 minutes to spare and this App is a great way to improve not only physical fitness levels, but also psychological well-being.

To end this installment of iThrive, we will leave you with a short video of Jordan discussing the 7 Minute Workout and the benefits that one can receive from using it:

If you struggle with any major medical conditions, you should consult with your primary health care physician before incorporating the 7 Minute Workout into your fitness routine. High intensity training is strenuous on the entire body, including the heart.